Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Summer Reading

Over the summer, you were asked to read at least two novels of your choice.
1) Briefly tell me what you read, including the titles and authors.
2) I want to know what you liked about the books, what you learned and, more importantly, what matters to you about the book's content.

*Make sure to adhere to proper conventions and proofread your response. If, for some reason, you did not read two novels, tell me about two novels you have read and answer the above.

32 comments:

  1. the first book i read was "ON THE DEVILS COURT" by Carl Deuker and it was a very good book because its about basketball and i realy understood it because basketball is my favorite sport. another book i read was "TO KILL A MOCKING BIRD" by Harper Lee and i thaught it was a good book because there was alot of exciting adventures and stuff like that. my favorite book out of the 2 was "ON THE DEVILS COURT."

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  2. This summer I read a series of books by Kristen Britain called the Green Rider series. The story is a fantasy set in roughly the 17 hundreds and is about a girl, Karagan, who is called to join the king’s messenger serves by what is known as the rider call. It is a magical sound that can only be heard by riders or future riders.
    In the first book Karagan has run away from school and meets a dieing rider on the side of the road. The rider has been impaled in the back with 2 black arrows. He makes her promise to take the message to the king. Little did she know that the people who shot the first rider were still trying to stop the message from reaching its destination.
    In the second book Karagan is at home with her father trying to resist the rider call and grow up to be a merchant as she always wanted. But eventually she can’t resist any more and goes to rejoin the messenger serves. She goes through the mandatory training and becomes a regular rider. But old dark magic was stirring and trouble was rising.

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  3. What I liked about the books was that you could never predict what was going to happen next. There were so many twists and turns it kept me on my toes, and I enjoy fiction or fantasy books more than nonfiction or mystery.

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  4. This summer I read The outsiders by S.E. Hinton and Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, I liked in The outsiders and how the gang of misfits and family, which was the greasers, always stuck to each others side no matter what, and would always look after each other just like how Mr. Booth is always saying warriors look out for each other so i could make a connection to that. I also thought it was just an all around good book with lots of adventures and surprises and it had a huge surprise at the end so i was glad i read it. I would read a couple chapters and i couldn't just put the book away so i ended up finishing to book in under a week or so.
    I also read Hatchet and it was about a boy named Brian who was going to visit his dad but he had a plane wreck and had to survive out in the Canadian forest by himself. I liked this book because it was about his like will to survive and that he would never give up and loose hope even though he came into close encounters a couple times with unfriendly visitors, but I'm going to have to say that the squeal, Brian's Winter, was better just because it was more action packed I think.
    I also like survival, sports and fiction books but sometimes i will read a non fiction book if i find one that sounds and looks good. I don't really like slow pace books just because they get kind of boring and i can never finish one and i don't really like mystery.

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  5. Over the summer, I read The Merchant of Death and its sequel, The Lost City of Faar, both by D.J. MacHale. What I liked about the books is how unpredictable the plot was. At one point the main character had found the perfect solution, but he just helped his enemy without realizing. I also liked how the characters were so realistic. They each had their own personality and changed with what happened.

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  6. I read "Dope Sick" by Walter Dean Myers and it was about this kid who has been hanging around with the wrong crowd just to make a few bucks and go to college but in one of the jobs he did for this group the cops came and he ran while his partner went back and killed the cop. Throughout the book he is hiding from the cops. I really liked the storyline of this book. It keeps you woundering throughout. I learned the effects of drugs without using them.
    The second book was called "Homeboyz" by Allen Lawrence Sitomer. It was about a kid named Teddy, his little sister was shot and killed in a drive by. Its mostly about the revenge he plots out on the killer. I also liked the storyline of this book. I learned that revenge is not the best choice to make.

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  7. I read A Brief History of Time by Steven Hawking. And John Lennon: All I Want is the Truth by Elizabeth Partridge.To stat, Brief History of Time, probably one of the HARDEST books. EVER. But, it was very very interesting. It was about how the stuff that has happened in the universe and how we learned from it.I liked how fun interesting it was but I have to admit, there were a few times I got mad because I had NO CLUE what Steven Hawking was talking about. I had to ask people what it meant and reread pages a few times. I learned this theory about Light speed traveling, it was probably one of the most interesting things I read. I loved it. It made me very glad that I live in the time I do now with all our technology.

    John Lennon: All I Want is the Truth, was a biography on John Lennon and it was very cool to learn about the things that I probably never would have learned about without this book. I learned about the naming of The Beatles and much more, The Beatles was spelled with a "ea" instead of a "ee" to show they beat. I really liked the book and the information because John Lennon is probably one of my favorite people to hear about and I would always love to meet him, but I never will because of his death brought upon him by Mark David Chapman. I learned very many cool facts about John Lennon.

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  8. This summer I read touching spirit bear By Ben Mikaelsen. The thing that I really liked about this book is that no matter what cole had done he tried to fix the mistakes that he made in the past and that what had changed him was a bear at first he wanted t kill the bear but he had lost to it and almost died and he had realized that the bear could have killed him but it didn’t and cole had told him self that no matter what happens to him is that he well always try to make up for what he did and try to help the kid that he almost killed. I think that we can all learn that no matter what if u did some thin bad is not to blame it on some one else because it is your fault not there’s. And if you think it is there fault u can end up hurting some one. And another thing from this but is no matter what you do u can always change

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  9. I read 2 books over the summer, one was a collection of novelettes by Orson Scott Card titled "First Meetings", this book is a collection of four short stories that take place in the universe created by Card for the Ender's Game series. The book was very good because I like the way the author writes, he analyzes character through following the dialogue and thoughts of the characters and he explains why they think or say what they do. I liked the book because it was very entertaining to read, the rivalries and attempted sabotage by small children is very funny and the fact that the little seven and eight year old's are genius' is pretty funny as well.

    The second book i read was "Xenocide" which is another book by Orson Scott Card. This book follows Ender as he is in his middle to older aged part of his life, he has finally found a place to call home, the planet of Lusitania, and as he gets there he realizes the turmoil they are in. The book revolves around Ender attempting to save three groups of beings and I really liked the book because it is intense and interesting. The book focuses on thoughts and feeling of morals between characters and makes it hard to decide who you want to win.

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  11. The first book i read was FAT KIDS RULE THE WORLD. I really liked the book because it was really funny. The Author had a very good sense of humor.

    The second book i read was TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. I didn't really like the book because there were a lot of boring parts.

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  12. I read to books over the summer. The first one was wanted which is wrote by Carolyn Cooney. It was about a girl named alice who got framed for her fathers death now she has to clear her name. The other one was on the devils court by carl dueker.It was about a 14 yr old boy who trades his soul to the devil to get better skills in basketball.

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  14. Over the summer I read Digital Fortress by Dan Brown and the whole Pendragon series by D.J. MacHale. Digital Fortress I liked because it was about the NSA or National Security Agency who can decode any email or conversation they want, but when a former employee writes an “unbreakable” code and it could lead to the NSA being at the top or totally exposed. In Pendragon, it’s about a boy who gets the “opportunity” to travel around to 10 different worlds/planets and keep them from falling to the “dark” side of things with the bad guy named Saint Dane.

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  16. The two books that I read over the summer were 'Into Thin Air' by Jon Krakauer. This book is about a man that is asked to climb Mount Everest and write an article for a newspaper about his experience. It is a fun, thrilling, and adventurous book that I suggest for anyone to read.
    The second book that I read was 'The Stranger' by Albert Camus. This book is about a man that lives in Algeria. The man is accused of murder and eventually goes to trial. Prior to the trial, he travels to a beach house. He steals a gun and shoots someone in the head for no apparent reason. By the time the trial begins, he is accused of the second murder and is found guilty on both accounts and is executed for his crimes. I think this book has one lesson and that is the nature of life and death.

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  18. The first book I read over the summer was "Night" by Elie Wiesel. It was about a young Jewish boy and his family captured by the Nazis. I liked the book because it was a true story and I got to learn how things were in the war and the concentration camps. It shows how far people can go to survive.

    The second book I read was "Ptolemy's Gate" by Jonathan Stroud. This book is the third and final book in his series "The Bartimaeus Trilogy". This book is about a young magician named Nathaniel who makes his way up the ranks of the magical government. His djini named Bartimaeus helps him along the way. I really liked this book because it is available on cd and it is never ending action and intensity. I learned to always be nice and respect others or it can come back to bite you.

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  19. I read the book Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli and was a story taking place in Europe during the holocaust with two boys as the main characters, Misha Pilduski and Uri. They struggle for survival when the Nazis take over and force them to the ghettos. It showed the life of the kids and how horrible circumstances were during the time period. I liked the book because it showed the lives of children our age and how life was difficult and what they did to survive. It was a very interesting book especially because of the time period and to see how life was back then.

    Another book I read was Muhammad Ali by Hauser. It was an inspirational book because he was a great boxer and was so dedicated to the sport that he became so popular back then. He trained many hours a day to prepare for fights. Ali was undefeated for many years because of his speed and quickness. He became a light-heavyweight champion for all of his hard work. I really liked the book because Muhammad Ali was a really smart talker and cocky before fights which he is famous for. Overall I liked the book because it talked about the life of Ali from beginning to end and how he made his career possible and how he became the world’s best boxer.

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  20. This summer I read the book I,Robot by Isaac Asimov and dateable by Justin Lookadoo and Hayley Morgan. I,Robot was a very interesting book for me because I love technology and problem solving. One thing I thought was interesting was the three laws of robotics have holes in them. If a robot is told to go get something it must unless it is putting itself into danger. So if it puts itself into danger it must bring itself to safety. But now that it is in safety it must go get the something. Which makes it just walk in circles. I just think that kind of stuff is interesting.
    Dateable was another interesting book. It talks about everything you need to know about dating and being dateable. The part I thought was most interesting was that a main point throughout the book was putting yourself in a good position. Not just in the short term but in the long run as well. Having a backup plan incase something doesn’t go as planned. Knowing what you are going to do in a situation before you even come to that situation. I learned a lot about the opposite sex in this book which should be really helpful.

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  21. The first book i read was "Slam!" by Walter Dean Myers. It was about a young basketball player who lives in the inter city and had to transfer to a more difficult school and is having trouble. He meets with the principle and the principle says he must get his grades up.I liked the book because it was about basketball and a highschool students strugle to keep the grades up I learned that going into highschool, grades are very important not only for education but also for extra curiculare things like sports.


    The second book i read was "Lone Survivor" by Marcus Luttrell. This book was a true story about a navy seal who is stuck in a foriegn place full of taliban fighters and his strugle to try and get back home. I liked this book alot because it gave me a more in depth look at the kinds of things that our millatary is going through in the middle east. I learned that these kinds of jobs are very difficult and that they had to be very highly trained to make it out alive.

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  22. Over the summer I read the Books Flight of the Intruder and Soldier’s Heart.

    The first book I read was called Soldier’s Heart by Gary Paulson. I really liked this book because I learned about war in a different way instead of the way action movies portray it. After seeing war shown in a glorified way I thought it was really important to see it the way it probably really is.

    The second Book I read was also a war story about a US Navy pilot who flies during the Vietnam War. The book is called Flight of the Intruder by Stephen Coonts. This also shows war in a different way. The main character, Jake drops bombs and kills very many enemy soldiers. Instead of going back for more Jake is saddened by his acts. After seeing war shown in a glorified way I thought it was really important to see it the way it probably really is.

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  23. Two books I read over the summer were “To Kill A Mocking Bird” by Harper Lee, I also read “The Thief Lord” by Cornelia Funk. These books in my opinion were definitely in my top 10 for good books.

    “To Kill A Mocking Bird” by Harper Lee is about a young girl named Scout and a boy named Jem. There are a lot of events that happen in this book but the major one is when Jem and Scout’s dad (Atticus) gets a case to defend a black guy named Tom. Atticus proves that this other guy didn’t hurt his daughter and proved that actually the guy was hitting his daughter because she was trying to go out with a black. This was bad back then. Jem break’s his arm and Scout would have been dead if her costume didn’t save her thanks to Boo Radley who saves them. Boo is the next door neighbor that watches them but never comes out. In the end they found out Bob Ewell tried to kill them because of that case.

    “The Thief Lord” by Cornelia Funk is about this kid who takes in these kids off the street and put them in this “abandoned” movie theater. There he “steals” items and sells it to make money for food, clothing, and etc for the kids. Sooner or later a kid sees him at this big house so he follows him. He eventually finds out that he is filthy rich and was just stealing from his own house and selling it for these kids. That concludes my thoughts.

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  24. The first book that i read was Son Of The Mob by Gordan Korman. It was about a boy named Vince whos father was in the mob. All thruogh Vince's life his das buisness was interfering with his life.The book is about Vince trying to stay out of te mob life and stay clean.

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  25. The nxt book thst i read was To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. It was about scout , a youg girl living in the south during a really prejduce time. Her dad Atticus is a lawyer and is defending a black man who is charged for raping a white girl. He is really innocent but hes charged guilty. The books lesson is that you should never blame anything on the easiest person

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  26. Over the summer I read two books called, Iron Man by Peter David, and Spider-Man 3 by Peter David. Iron Man was about a laid back billionaire (Tony Stark) who finds out terrorist were getting his weapons and do to that he built a suit to get rid of the weapons. I liked this book because it came from comics and it involves a super hero like batman who has no powers but still does what he can with a suit to make a difference. What matters in this book to me and what I learned were that you can’t just sit back and let someone else do everything for you because then you don’t know what is going on; just like Tony didn’t know that terrorist were also getting his weapons not just the U.S. military. Spider-Man 3 was about peter parker who can do what ever a spider can do but must have his friend stop hating him for something he didn’t do to take down the villains(sand man and a man with a aggressive infection, John Brock). I liked this book for the same reasons as Iron Man since it too is about a super hero. However what mattered and what I learned were different in both books this time I realized you can’t hold grudges because in the end of the day nothing is going to make what happened undo it self. Also with a grudge everything that used to matter to you just disappears because you get to caught up in the grudge you are holding.

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  27. the first book i read was TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee, the book was okay to me the ending was good but the start of the book was kind of boring to me. its about a family in the south and the dad is a lawyer and his daughter Scout and his son Jem and there friend Dill they start to find out about a boy named Boo Radley and they start off being scared of him but at the end they become friends.



    the next book i read was probably one of my favorite books SLAM by Walter Dean Myers. I like it because it's about basketball and its interesting, it's about a boy who plays basketball and is having problems with his grades and so he goes and gets help and ends up playing basketball.

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  28. One of the books i read over the summer was firestorm by David Klass.One thing that i liked about it was that it had science fiction in it that made me create a colorful and imaginative picture in my head for every scene.I also liked it because i could relate to one of the characters in the book

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  29. The other book that i read was soldier x by Don Wulffson.One thing that i liked about it was that it was about a young boy who was very couragous in world war two in Germany and he faced many obstacles but somehow found a way around them.It also made me want to keep reading most of the time

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  30. One book that I read over the summer was "Driven from within" by Michael Jordan. This book had many comments from family and friends about the famous basketball star. Michael talks about pushing your limits and giving it more than what you have. He tells you about how he came from nothing to something and his whole life story including childhood memories, school, during the game season, and much more. But most of all, Michael Jordan tells about his experiences with the shoe brand Air Jordan. How he wanted to be different and go outside of the box. Michael Jordan said to his co-workers "Even if someone tells you there ugly at least you know that they're realizing the shoe, even if they don't know it" meaning he wants to lead and not follow what everyone’s is doing. In this book, I like how he talks about getting cut from the varsity team and coming back the next year to prove that he is good enough. It taught me never to give up and to prove myself to those who don't believe I can do it. From this book I learned how to have dedication and pride in what I'm doing. But I really learned how to be a leader.
    Another book I read over this summer was "How to Be like Mike" by Grant Hill. The advice he gives you doesn't just help with on the court situations but also with life situations. He tells you to work hard and have goals for everything you do. He tells you to never give up and have FUN. That to me was the most important piece of advice in the book. If you're not having fun then what is the point of pushing yourself. Both of these books have taught me lifelong lessons that will stay with me forever.

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  31. The books I read were "Black Hawk Down" and "The DaVinchi Code". What I liked about the first book was it showed you what war was like and that anything can happen. The second book I read I liked was the serch for Mary Magdelin and that she was the Holy Grail.

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  32. This summer I read Crispin by Avi, and Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, Crispin took place in the 1400’s and is about a boy named Crispin. Asta, Crispin’s mom, who is a peasant who is murdered mysteriously in the night. That morning Crispin finds himself declared a Wolf’s head. Over all Crispin was an AMAZING book. I could never just read one chapter at a time.

    This summer I also read Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. Hatchet is about a boy named Brian Robeson who is Thirteen years old and loves to fly. His parents had recently been divorced and his dad moved to Canada. On Brian’s flight to Canada the pilot gives him a brief flight lesson. During that lesson the pilot has a heart attack. Brian tries to call for help on the radio, but they are out of range on the radio and he is low on fuel. The plane finally crashes and brian has to survive the hash Canadian wilderness with only a hatchet. This book was the best because you never know if Brian will survive the next page.

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